Tuesday, 20 December 2011

The Battle for Menglad - Narrative

The brave heroes having survived the trials of the Redwake Valley make it to Menglad, home of the wizard Heinrich Kemmler, where they hope to enlist his help in stopping the goblins and recovering the Gem of Mahallaplenti. As they crest the ridge and skirt the woods in front of the wizards home a surprise awaits them. All along the walls surrounding the Tower, goblins stood and derisively shrieked at the approaching heroes.
Quickly taking stock of the situation the Border Kingdoms and Treyine forces broke right heading behind a rise in the ground to approach the walls from the flank. The Mirish and their Hykar mercenaries, along with the Black Elf sorceror and his cabal, broke left to cover the woods that screened the facing walls of Menglad. The Elves stayed in the centre taking aim through the still open gateway at the forces marshalling in the bailey before the Tower itself. It seemed obvious that Kemmler had either been killed or captured by the marauding Goblin hordes.
As the heroes approached the walls however it became apparent that all was not as it appeared. On the Tower rooftop a cabal of necromantic sorcerors were attempting to use black magic to thwart the heroes' advance and behind the goblins in the bailey were creatures of undeath!
As the heroes broke into the bailey the Cabal on the Tower rooftop unleashed a powerful spell, blasting many of the attacking forces unconscious and forcing most of the rest to run in fear for their lives.
The heroes, with their few remaining retainers supported by the Mirish resisted home their attack on the remaining forces of evil arrayed in the courtyard before the Tower. While they fought bravely, the vile sorceress cabal descended the Tower steps and brought the might of their magic to bear. Realising that they could not easily kill the Lich that had taken Kemmler's place as master of Menglad the heroes redoubled their efforts to destroy his minions and the few remaining archers in the greatly diminished heroic forces picked of the members of the Cabal one by one.
Still this proved not to be enough. The Lich, calling himself Psammon, cast another terrible spell forcing all but the heroes and a handful of the Mirish horsemen to flee in terror. Making a last ditch attempt the heroes threw themselves at Psammon hoping to destroy his evil once and for all. The diabolical laughter of the Lich rang across the charnel house of the Tower courtyard as he destroyed the remaining mercenaries and cut down two of the brave heroes. Realising that their end could be near the closest heroes grabbed their fallen comrades and locked themselves in the Tower, hoping to gain some respite, while the Black Elf wizard fled to rally the tattered remnants of the heroes' retainers.
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As dawn broke over the walls of Menglad, the trapped heroes could hear the tramping of a large force approach the gates. Looking out from the highest windows of the Tower they realised that time was running out. Psammon's dark followers had arrived bringing a force of animated dead and vile cultists. It was painfully obvious that unless they could escape quickly, the Tower would offer little protection and may ultimately become their tomb.
As Psammon gathered his new Cabal about him and readied his degenerate minions for an assault on the heroes hiding place, the heroes seized their chance and made a dash for the wall, dragging their injured comrades behind them. Escaping, ironically, by the same route by which they had entered Menglad less than a day before the heroes tried to make their way to the camp they had made just north of the wooded hills before the Tower walls. As they desperately made their way northward, with baying cultists and the shambling dead on their heels they used as much cover as possible to hide from the questing spells of Psammon's foul magic. All seemed lost when suddenly horns sounded and the remnants of the heroes' warbands came over the horizon. Healers rushed forward and archers took position and started to pick off targets in Psammon's Cabal, while infantry formed defensive formations around the heroes and their injured charges. It was obvious to all that Psammon could not be defeated this day but that escape was possible to bring news to the beleaguered valley and the rest of Altengard, and yes perhaps to return one day to visit revenge upon the Lich and his Necromantic Cabal.